Ryleh gasps in shock. It wasn't real? But the blood on her hands...that was real. And she could still taste the blood in her mouth. Then how? She looked at him, seeing, but not believing. Perhaps her mind had finally cracked.

"Killing me isn't the hard part, but keeping me dead? Res assured, Ryleh, you are not crazy." Sand falls from his sleeve and with a word from Lysander begins to scour the blood from the house, leaving no trace of what had happened. "Answer the question."

"You're really bad at this for someone who should know better," she said, her voice cracking. "There's a reason I avoid mirrors you know. It's been five decades since I could last stand the sight of myself, and you think a temper tantrum is going to fix things?"

"I will have plenty of time to sleep after I move my lair. If there's one thing you've managed to prove today, it's that it's not safe for me to be around others. I will watch over them from a distance. It's better that way."

"And what will that prove? That I'm as much of a monster as we both agree that I am?" she asked despairing. She tried to avoid her reflection, but it was impossible with as many mirrors as there were walls. She was covered in blood. Well, at least she looked the part.

"You did what you had to in order to protect your family. A real monster would have done what you did for fun." Sand sweeps across Ryleh and cleans the blood that's all over her. "To have actually started to believe the false legends that were spread about dragons... nothing but foolishness."

Ephebe rummaged through the shed finding some of the safer toy options to bring out for the kids. She was studiously ignoring Lysander's message. Talked it through? Please. You couldn't have a conversation with Grandma about what kind of tea to have that was over that quickly.

"Okay, guys...I bet you can finish off those skeletons pretty quick with this animated medicine ball....do not EVER aim it at each other. Yes, I can fix it, but it will hurt quite a lot in the meantime, and let's just not."

Ephebe rummaged through the shed finding some of the safer toy options to bring out for the kids. She was studiously ignoring Lysander's message. Talked it through? Please. You couldn't have a conversation with Grandma about what kind of tea to have that was over that quickly.

"Okay, guys...I bet you can finish off those skeletons pretty quick with this animated medicine ball....do not EVER aim it at each other. Yes, I can fix it, but it will hurt quite a lot in the meantime, and let's just not."

"The point of saving your family or the point of the false legends we spread?"

"The point of the conflict in the first place."

"You were not told? Gem dragons were the refugees of a war between the chromatic and metallic dragons. Since the gems would not pick a side, they became a common enemy, and were forced to hide in worlds such as this one. A gold dragon sent a rather specialized group of assassins after them to wipe out the deserters. Hunters."

"You kind were what is called 'innocent bystanders' or 'collateral damage'. The Sandwalkers stopped being assassins long ago we we realized we were forgotten by now, and would be considered a threat to the Dragon Empire if we came back."

"You think I didn't know all of that. My grandfather raised me and he was one of the ones who built Agartha. I knew more about the past and what was Outside than any of the rest of my peers. And Ephebe has filled in a few of the blank spots in that history. An intersting job perk I suppose."

"And we did choose a side. We chose to speak for those who couldn't speak for themselves. We chose the side of all of those who were caught in the middle of a fight that wasn't theirs and deserved better. But we were bad at it. We couldn't do what comes so naturally to my daughter. We couldn't do the human thing. We couldn't build a cohesive community out of everyone who ever happened to cross our paths. If we had, there would have been no reason at all to make Agartha in the first place."

"As far as I know, there wasn't one. I was told you were the enemy, and since I was fresh out of training, I believed it. Took me years to see I was a puppet."

"But the point of all of this right now, was to try and find a way you could be a part of the family again, instead of just someone who watches and waits for something to go wrong. Matthias, Gwenne, Tal, Ephebe and her children... they aren't the Hunters you knew. They never will be. They love you."

"Okay, guys...I bet you can finish off those skeletons pretty quick with this animated medicine ball....do not EVER aim it at each other. Yes, I can fix it, but it will hurt quite a lot in the meantime, and let's just not."

What in the world convinced you it was a good idea to give these kids a Bludger!?

Once they figure out how to roll it, their skill at taking out the skeletons increases dramatically, much to their delight.

Ryleh took a deep breath and pulled out a handkerchief from her sleeve. She wiped away the tears and blew her nose and sat down at the table. She poured a fresh cup of tea. She wasn't entirely sure how there was still a table and a teapot, but they needed to be there and so they were. This house tended to work like that.

"Somewhere along the way I forgot. I forgot why we did it. They blew up our homeworld, while most of us were still on it. Because we said that they were wrong, that there were no lesser races. So Agartha was made to hide away all of those who were brave enough to walk away but not strong enough to fight. And in some ways that was wrong too, but it was the best we could do. My people weren't warriors. Philosphers, perhaps. My grandfather said that there were temples on our homeworld that were wonders of architecture the like of which will never be seen again filled with precious manuscripts of ancient philosphers with insights into balance and harmony that will never again be mastered. All gone because someone has to speak up for those that can't speak for themselves, and the war had created a large population of those. I don't know if it was a good enough reason for everything that came after, but it was a reason at least. I had forgotten."

"Also, you can drop the whole I was a new recruit act. You weren't, and I suspect you had reasons of your own for hating us, though gods only know what they were. If you were a puppet it wasn't of the Empire. I'm old enough to recognize a lie when I hear it."

"Also, you can drop the whole I was a new recruit act. You weren't, and I suspect you had reasons of your own for hating us, though gods only know what they were. If you were a puppet it wasn't of the Empire. I'm old enough to recognize a lie when I hear it."

"At least you were listening." Lysander smiles slightly. "My 'reason' for hating you was that fact that, like all the other dragons, you took it upon yourselves to help the non-dragons instead of asking us what you could do to help. You acted on your own, thinking what you wanted for us was what we wanted for us. Things went wrong sometimes, and that cost me dearly in the end. I did not handle the pain well either."

"Also, you can drop the whole I was a new recruit act. You weren't, and I suspect you had reasons of your own for hating us, though gods only know what they were. If you were a puppet it wasn't of the Empire. I'm old enough to recognize a lie when I hear it."

"At least you were listening." Lysander smiles slightly. "My 'reason' for hating you was that fact that, like all the other dragons, you took it upon yourselves to help the non-dragons instead of asking us what you could do to help. You acted on your own, thinking what you wanted for us was what we wanted for us. Things went wrong sometimes, and that cost me dearly in the end. I did not handle the pain well either."

Ryleh stopped to consider.

"You make a fair point. It's why we did it badly. Aananda and her children will do it better. Are already doing it better. Well, with the exception of Taron, who has shown a fairly wide streak of draconic arrogance that needs curbing."

"The least I can do is help them. As they need, not as I think they need," she said with a nod of acknowledgement.

She smiled sadly. "I suppose I always thought that everything would be alright as long as they were. I never stopped to look at things and realize how much it affected me when my mate decided it wasn't worth living through the pain anymore, how much that attitude still infected me half a century after his death. And how much it would affect them if I just gave up too."

"There's a picture book that belonged to Master Quo. He used to read it to the triplets. They loved it. It was their favorite book. He left it to me when he died. Do you think that Ryo would mind very much if I stopped by this evening to read the children a story? It occurs to me that I haven't spent nearly enough time getting to know my grandchildren."

Jen thanks Mr. Vakkler for his patience and scampers off to her next class, Advanced Physical Education. When she asks the school to lead her to her next class, to her surprise, the arrows bring her to a garden instead of to a gym, where classes are normally held.

She looks around for an obvious authority figure, usually the one wearing more unusual clothing.

"Considering he kept them hidden most of their so far, that is quite understandable. I don't think he'd mind at all. If he did and they found out, they wouldn't let him have a moments rest. Their funny like that."

She smiled, areal smile this time. "It's amazing how much they are like their cousins. Well, perhaps the slightest bit less destructive, but they're young yet. It's quite likely they'll catch up before we know it."